the Association was on the development of residential housing in which 4- 6
people with intellectual disabilities would be supported to live together in the
community. Employment services were also expanded.
C. People FirstIn Canada during the 1970s more and more people with disabilities began to
organize and advocate for their rights to be included as valued members of
society.^12 Individuals who had been labelled and institutionalized began to
advocate for the right to live in the community. They recognized that because
they had lived in institutions, they required help and support in order to live and
work in the community. They began to organize in various cities across Canada
in order to form networks for people who had been labelled with intellectual
disabilities to support one another as self-advocates.
When forming these networks, they explained that they had endured years of
being talked about, ordered about and labelled and, they wanted to be able to
support each other in their right to be seen as “people” first. This is how the name
for the organization “People First” came about. There continue to be numerous
People First organizations across Canada. People First of Canada^13 is organized
and governed by people who have been labelled with an intellectual disability.
This organization provides resources, training, and advocacy to “(s)upport people
who have been labelled [with an intellectual disability] to speak for themselves
and to help each other”^14.
The idea that people who had been labelled with an intellectual disability should
be moved from institutions and be provided with opportunities to live in a
community of their choice began to gain some support in Ontario in the 1970s.
(^12) Online: Disability Rights Free Culture, “Disability Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights
and Freedoms 13 ” http://disabilityrights.freeculture.ca/exhibits_th_c.php
14 Online: People First Canada, “About Us” http://www.peoplefirstofcanada.ca^
Online: People First Canada, “Visions and Goals”
http://www.peoplefirstofcanada.ca/visions_goals_en.php